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In a dramatic blow to hopes for labour peace in Ontario schools, high school teachers in York Region and Niagara have rejected tentative deals which could have been the first in a flood of agreements.

By Louise BrownEducation Reporter

Tues., Nov. 27, 2012

In a dramatic blow to hopes for labour peace in Ontario schools this year, high school teachers in York Region and Niagara have rejected tentative deals some thought could have been the first in a flood of agreements across the province.

While high school teachers in the Upper Grand District School Board around Guelph did approve their contract, the mixed union results are a sign labour turmoil will continue to disrupt many schools.

What appears to have sunk the deal, at least in York, was not the contract itself but the fact many felt it was largely imposed by Queen’s Park through an unpopular law unions say limits their bargaining rights so severely they are fighting it in court.

Many of York’s 2,800 teachers argued at a heated union meeting Monday night at Markham Fairgrounds that signing any deal under these circumstances would be a “sellout” to the hated Bill 115 and might even weaken the court case down the road, sources said.

A number of York teachers launched an email campaign to colleagues last weekend urging them not go along with any deal tainted by Bill 115.

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“We’re disappointed that members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation did not ratify the agreement,” said Licinio Miguelo, spokesperson for the York Region District School Board.

Trustees voted to approve the tentative deal Tuesday night just as teachers were rejecting it — as happened at the same time in Niagara.

The votes mean high school teachers in York and Niagara will begin withdrawing some administrative duties in the coming days, and boards will monitor job actions to ensure student safety is not at risk.

The votes, especially to some of the first deals to be put before front-line teachers, spelled bad news for Education Minister Laurel Broten, who has been urging local boards to hammer out deals with their union locals based on a blueprint worked out this summer between her ministry and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association.

“I am disappointed that OSSTF teachers in York and Niagara did not ratify locally bargained collective agreements,” Broten said Tuesday night, adding she was pleased Upper Grand teachers approved it.

“This (Upper Grand deal) further illustrates that local agreements are possible when everyone works together to find solutions that put students first,” said Broten in a statement. “Reaching negotiated agreements that meet our shared fiscal challenges while protecting small class sizes, full-day kindergarten and teacher jobs has always been our preference.”

Trustees in all three boards approved the deals.

So far, 10 school boards have reached tentative deals with their local high school unions, six of which have been approved by Broten and will be up for local votes in the coming days.

OSSTF president Ken Coran was unavailable for comment Tuesday night. The union did not release vote counts.

The York and Upper Grand deals caught many by surprise two weekends ago when they were reached quietly and locally, despite the larger labour turmoil across Ontario.

Broten said local deals had to be “substantively identical” (no more costly) than the contract agreed to last summer by the Catholic teachers’ union, which freezes wages for two years, reduces sick days and ends the payout of sick days upon retirement.

A copy of the York Region deal obtained by the Star included one mandatory and up to five voluntary unpaid days off, as well as a payment to newer teachers in lieu of cashing out unused sick days at retirement.

When Broten ruled they passed her test, the only step left was for teachers to vote on the deal.

But unlike most union contract votes, a political elephant loomed — the law passed in September that enables the province to end a strike or lockout almost immediately.

Hailed as undemocratic, the Putting Students First Act faces a constitutional challenge from the OSSTF, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which claim it violates their rights.

With files from Robert Benzie and Kristin Rushowy

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